A climate-friendly prime example of a win-win situation: By using locally generated tenant electricity, the real estate industry combines climate protection with affordable ancillary costs. The electricity prices of solar tenant electricity, for example, are usually ten percent lower than those of the local basic supplier. Tenant electricity also contributes to achieving a climate-neutral building stock.
"Your commercial property has great potential for sustainable solutions. We support you in implementing tenant electricity projects as easily as possible. We plan, install and operate solar systems on your property, and together we drive the energy transition forward."
Anja Burde, Managing Director Solarimo GmbH
At the beginning there was a good intention: In 2017, the Bundestag passed the Tenant Electricity Act to give tenants a greater share in the expansion of renewable energies. State support for tenant electricity from photovoltaics aimed to provide incentives for the installation of solar installations on residential buildings.
The principle is clear: The solar power generated on the roof is delivered directly to the tenants inside the house and consumed directly inside the house. The unused electricity is fed into the public grid and remunerated. With tenant electricity, tenants receive clean electricity from the roof – and are guaranteed to save money: The electricity price offered is legally guaranteed to be at least ten percent lower than the price of the local basic utility.
Despite the good starting position, the Tenant Electricity Act has so far fallen well short of expectations. The current framework conditions are not sufficient to tap into the existing potential. Experts criticize, for example, the restrictive regulations such as a limitation to installations with a maximum rated output of 100 kilowatts and the exclusion of neighborhood solutions. A further point of criticism is the unequal treatment of solar power for own consumption by homeowners and the use of tenant electricity - the tenant electricity premium of currently only 1.0 to 2.1 cents per kilowatt hour does not fully compensate the EEG surcharge.
Tenant electricity projects have so far been particularly successful where all the players involved cooperate closely with each other. Another success factor lies in making the implementation of tenant electricity projects as uncomplicated as possible. Making solar power more convenient for tenants - this is precisely what Solarimo, the tenant electricity start-up founded by ENGIE Deutschland, has set out to do. The team handles all tasks from planning, financing and installation to supply, maintenance and accounting with the tenants. Tenants and landlords alike benefit from this holistic concept, enabling them to actively participate in the energy transition.
In addition to tenant electricity from solar energy, other sustainable energy sources and technical solutions are also used. In particular, decentralized combined heat and power plants enable the realization of innovative tenant electricity projects.
ENGIE Deutschland offers its heating customers electricity generation in their own homes via a combined heat and power plant. Combined heat and power generation, i.e. the joint generation of electricity and heat, achieves a particularly high level of energy efficiency - fuel consumption and emissions are reduced while at the same time relieving the electricity grids. As a partner to the landlords, ENGIE Deutschland provides the complete service, from planning, financing and construction of the plants to operation and power distribution within the property, to feeding the surplus power into the grid and marketing it.
Photovoltaics are booming: Around 1.8 million building owners already have a solar system on their roof and are actively contributing to the energy transition. The development potential for tenant electricity projects is considered to be similarly high.
Cheap, local and environmentally friendly – tenants should also be able to actively participate in the expansion of renewable energies via tenant electricity projects. The potential for the energy transition in your own house is great.